France: Piggy Bank

In his gold war against the U.S., Charles de
Gaulle in the past 20 months has amassed a huge hoard of bullion.
With Finance Minister Michel Debre acting as De Gaulle's Goldfinger, the
French this year have been cashing in dollars for gold at a $54
million-a-month rate. Last week the Bank of France reported that as of
Aug. 1, France had hoarded $5.13 billion in gold.

Gold now constitutes 86% of all French reserves, compared with 73% at
the end of 1964. Moreover, the government is squirreling away the
precious metal at such a rate as to account for...